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Ginias Sahalin

Zeon technical officer and lead scientist of the Apsaras Project during the One Year War.
Jenxi Seow Published 15 Jun 2025 Updated 15 Jun 2025
Ginias Sahalin

Ginias Sahalin was a Zeon Rear Admiral and technical officer who directed the Apsaras Project during the One Year War. The older brother of Aina Sahalin, he was a brilliant scientist whose obsession with completing his mobile armor project ultimately led to his downfall and fratricide.

Biography

Early life

At 12 years old, Sahalin was severely affected by cosmic radiation exposure and subsequently contracted a rare and incurable disease, requiring him to take medication to maintain his health. This condition would plague him throughout his life, gradually deteriorating his physical and mental state.

Ginias was born into the prestigious Sahalin family, a noble family within the Principality of Zeon. According to Norris Packard, who served the Sahalin family, Aina resembled her father. The family employed Norris Packard as a loyal retainer who helped raise both Ginias and his younger sister Aina.

One Year War service

Ginias was one of Zeon’s top R&D scientists deployed to the surface of the Earth towards the end of the One Year War. His contribution to the war effort upon his assignment to the Southeast Asian region was overseeing the “Apsaras Project”. The project’s stated goal was to develop a mobile armor that possessed a powerful beam weapon strong enough to rend the Earth Federation Forces’ subterranean military headquarters at Jaburo, as an alternative means of attack after the failure of Operation British.

Though the project was initially met with resistance from some high-ranking Zeon officials on Earth, it was greenlit by Degwin Zabi personally and support for the project (albeit grudgingly from some Zeon field commanders on Earth) came pouring in upon making planetfall. Ginias appointed his sister Aina as the test pilot for the project, utilising her skills whilst keeping her close to oversee the development.

Project cancellation and descent into madness

With the defeat of the Zeon forces in Operation Odessa, support for the completion of the “Apsaras Project” was halted and diverted to the evacuation of Zeon forces into space. This decision infuriated Ginias, who had dedicated everything to the project’s completion. He calls Ginias via a screen, and says his soldiers are relocating to Ginias’s base to get to space on the Zanzibar-class Kergeren. He says that because of this, he must cancel the “Apsaras Project”, making Ginias extremely angry.

Unwilling to let the project go unfinished when it could turn the tide of the war in Zeon’s favor, Ginias secretly made steps to ensure the Apsaras would be finished in time for the highly anticipated final stand against the Earth Federation Forces that were now amassing around the remaining Zeon mountain fortress in Asia.

Ginias’s deteriorating condition, exacerbated by his failure to take medication regularly, caused his mental state to decline rapidly. To this end, he secretly kills Yuri Kellerne, who was supervising the evacuation of his men, by blowing up the cavern entrances to the base as well as killing the scientists working on the Apsaras project. His sanity decreasing even more due to his illness, once the Apsalus III was completed, Ginias executed his entire development team the scientists.

Final battle and death

When the Earth Federation Forces discovered the hidden base, Ginias launched the Apsaras III with Aina as his co-pilot. During the battle, Aina refuses to go along with his plans, and joins with Shiro to take down the Apsaras, killing Ginias in the process. She takes heed to him and attempts to convince Ginias to surrender, but her brother’s sheer conviction to destroy Jaburo and the Federation prompts him to shoot her instead.

In order to end the conflict once and for all, the two decide that their only remaining option is to kill Ginias and destroy the Apsaras together with Ez8. They manage to crush the cockpit of the Apsaras III as it fires one last devastating particle cannon shot, destroying the Federal Forces mobile battleship and seemingly killing both Aina and Shiro in the process.

Personality & traits

While Ginias initially appears noble, his actions reveal him to be someone extremely ruthless, manipulative and who will pursue his goals at any cost. Unlike most Zeon officers, he cares little for the goals of Zeon, ultimately loyal to nothing but his own ideals of power. This leads him to commit atrocities from murdering those under his command to even fratricide when his own sister, his last living family, attempts to stop him.

Ginias was driven by an obsession to restore the Sahalin family name to prominence through his scientific achievements. His illness contributed significantly to his mental deterioration, causing him to become increasingly paranoid and ruthless as the war progressed. Severe progression of the disease was evident during the completion of the Apsaras III, manifesting as hemoptysis.

Skills & abilities

Ginias was recognised as one of Zeon’s most brilliant research and development scientists. He possessed exceptional engineering skills and was capable of designing revolutionary mobile armor technology that could potentially change the course of the war. His greatest achievement was the Apsaras series of mobile armors, particularly the Apsaras III, which featured advanced Minovsky Craft systems and devastating mega particle cannon weaponry.

Despite his illness limiting his physical capabilities, Ginias retained enough piloting ability to operate the Apsaras III during the final battle, though he typically relied on his sister Aina for test piloting duties.

Relationships

Aina Sahalin

Ginias had a complex relationship with his younger sister Aina. A healthy and kind woman who devotes herself to supporting her brother Ginias, a technical officer, in order to revive Zeon’s prestigious Sahalin family. Initially, Ginias genuinely cared for Aina and trusted her completely, appointing her as the primary test pilot for his Apsaras project. However, his obsession with the project and deteriorating mental state ultimately led him to view even his beloved sister as expendable when she opposed his goals.

Norris Packard

Norris Packard served as the Sahalin family’s loyal retainer and helped raise both Ginias and Aina. Born in the Universal Century of U.C. 0041 Norris Packard served the Zeon’s aristocratic Sahalin family ever since Aina and Ginias Sahalin – the daughter and the son were young. Whilst Norris maintained his loyalty to the family, he became increasingly concerned about Ginias’s mental state and treatment of Aina.

Yuri Kellerne

Admiral Yuri Kellerne was an old family friend and military colleague. While the Zeon officers in Southeast Asia are having a formal party to commemorate the success of the “Apsaras Project”, including Ginias Sahalin, who was the head of the team of the project, Kellerne, who appears to be an old acquaintance of Ginias, crashes the party. Their relationship deteriorated when Kellerne attempted to cancel the Apsaras Project, leading to Ginias murdering him to prevent the cancellation order from reaching Gihren Zabi.

Mecha

Apsaras III

The final version, the Apsaras III, was completed at Ginias’ Southeast Asian mobile suit factory in December UC 0079. Ginias piloted the Apsaras III during the final battle against the 08th Mobile Suit Team. The final version of the Apsaras, the Apsaras III solved the power issue plaguing its predecessors, caused by the power-intensive mega particle cannon and Minovsky Craft, by mounting the generators of three MS-09R Rick Doms. The mobile armor represented the culmination of his life’s work and obsession.

Behind the scenes

The character serves as the primary antagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, representing the tragedy of brilliant minds consumed by obsession and illness during wartime. Some official sources give his name as Ginius Sahalim; however, the spelling used in the official English release, Ginias Sahalin, is the standard used here. Various merchandise and model releases have also used alternative spellings such as Sakhalin.

Ginias Sahalin is voiced by Show Hayami in Japanese and Lex Lang in English. He is voiced by Show Hayami, who also voiced Sōsuke Aizen in Bleach and Iznario Fareed in Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS. Ginias Sahalin shares both his Japanese and English voice actors with Count Cruhteo, a character from the real robot anime ALDNOAH.ZERO.

Some official sources give his name as Ginius Sahalim; however, the spelling used in the official English release, Ginias Sahalin, is what is used on this wiki. The character serves as the primary antagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, representing the tragedy of brilliant minds consumed by obsession and illness during wartime.

Appearances

See also